Children & Youth

We provide different groups throughout the week for the children according to their ages, from 0 to 18. We have teams of committed, trained leaders who are responsible for each age group, who care for them and try to love the whole child, not just teach them on a Sunday.

We want to support parents as the primary disciplers of their children, and seek to do this through regular communication, visits, prayer and providing resources. There are mid-week Club nights for different age groups at St John’s and Riverside, with games and Bible teaching. They have about 50% children from non-church families attending, and thanks to caring leaders, they get lots of attention during the evening.

Bible Clubs are also held in 2 primary schools and we provide opportunities in 2 local secondary schools for teenagers to meet to talk about the Christian faith. Please pray for all our different groups, that the children will come to love the rescue of Jesus and live under his reign.

Other work going on with children and families in the community includes the toddler groups, Mini music and Kick it. These provide a friendly service for parents and carers, space for the children to play freely and creatively, bible stories and songs and invitations to various events or courses at church.

We hold fun events for whole families during the year, and our Holiday Clubs in the summer attract a large number of children from the community. We don’t charge for these so they are accessible to all families. In the future, we’d love to be able to develop this kind of work– reaching out to families in this parish with the good news of Jesus through different means. It is our prayer that some of the parents who don’t yet come to church will want to start bringing their children on Sundays, and themselves want to know more about Jesus.